Bulk flow conveyer



Dec. 4, 1951 W. G, HUDSQN 2,577,82l

BULK FLOW CONVEYER v Filed Dec. 29, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l ATTOQNEL Dec. 4, 1951 I w. G. HUDSON 2,577,082

BULK FLow coNvEYER Filed nec. 29, 1945 4 s sheets-sheet 2 7' TURA/Ey Patented Dec. 4, 1951 UNITED BUEK ETI-10W CONVEYER Wilbur G'. Hudson,I Chicago, Ill'., assignor to Gifford-Wood Company,y Hudson, N. 12,* a corporation ofNew York' Application.4 December. 29, 1945, Serial No. 637,829

1A Claim. l

My lnventionrelates. to. conveyors of the continuous ow type and particularly to conveyors by meansr of. which, solid material such as coal, crushed. ore, stone, sand;Y grain, or the like, is carried from one leveltc a. higher level and continuously discharged. from. the conveyor at said higher level.

Conveyors ofV this. type. compriseV a casing having up. and down vertical runs through which an endless. chain, having nights attached thereto travels. The material is, introduced into a lower portion. of the casing" which maybe horizontal, andis carried upwardly through the casingy by the flights. to a discharge point at' or near'the top of the casing". The flights in such conveyors are sometimes solid orsubstantially solid, and sometimes open. Myl invention `relates particularlyto conveyors having solid' or substantially solid nights;

. n thevertically/upward run of thechain, the flights t quite closelyfwithin the casing and the chain to which the nights are attached" passes over ahead sprocket positioned somewhat above an` opening in the side of the' casing through which the material is discharged.. Whiley the casing; belowthe discharge opening, iitsi quite closely around thev flights, above and aboutv this opening" the casing is substantially enlarged. and is provided with a downwardly` sloping; bottom, extent-ling around the. chain, so. thatt most` of the material trapped between. thee nightsA while inthe smaller section ofthe casing. is; laterally released and discharges: by' gravity as it; enters the en,- larged portion ofA the. casing above; the: discharge opening.. Howeven some.-v of the material carried by each: flight', depending on. the shape; ofl the ilight4 andthe angle of' repose of the; materiaL is carried; upwardly beyond the enlarged portion of the casing and: is sometimes carried around thehead sprocket; and falls dow-n to; the.v lower: level. from. which it must, be again raised. In order. to facilitate a. dischargev of the material, from the flights, when they reach thel dischargel opening. at thel topi of the casing, it has` been proposed to.v inclinec the flights at a; substantial angle to the axis of the chain. so that the material will. slide off the flight by gravity, after the flight has. passed out of the vertical. run off the casing in; which it. is closely confined.. In order to effect suchv a sliding off of the material,I the; flights must beangu-l-arly disposed to the horizontal ata rather substantial ang-ler approximating or slightly exceeding the angle` of. repose of the material. conveyed. The ealiecty of sol sloping the flights is greatly to inf crease the frictionin the.y upward vertical run of the conveyor and greatly to; increase, the.- wear` on that side of the conveyor casing toward which the; flights. are sloped because the` material a1- ways tends to, slide downwardly on the nights and av wedging of the. material occurs. between the flights and thatfside of. the casing.v

lit-hasalsoy been proposedy not only to incline the. nightsA as above described but also to` arrange themsofthat the, angle through whichthey would otherwise ordinarily tilt inpassing around the head, sprocket is increased and` to. pass them through. a confined opening so. that, the material remaining; thereon. is. scraped off.. Somef ofv the constructions heretofore proposedI whereby the normal. angle of tilt of the flights isincreased, involve the7 use of. multiple; head sprockets and complicatedl chain link. and night constructions and,V in. most instances, some. material is carried around the. head sprocket, or sprockets,A because, in slid-ing fromA the, flights,` it, slides towards. and through.- the chainV instead of` away from the chain.. Thus. some of4 the material is caught. by portions of. the4 chainv and. is not discharged.

The principal object of my invention, is to, pro- Vide. a simple, chain. and flight. arrangement. for a conveyor or this. character in. which substantially all of the. material carried by each. flight will be discharged. at. the. top. of. the? upwardly vertical. run of, the chain and. very little, if. any, will, be; carried around the head sprocket.. Another object is to'. provide a chain-flight4 combination which is or".Y extremely simple, construction andin which only single sprocketsl are necessary. Another object is,A to. provide a` chain-nightvv arrangement in which the material discharged from. the nights above.- the discharge. opening is discharged. in adirection away from, instead of toward, or through. the. chain. Another object. is tov provide a chain-'Eigl-rt arrangement which will accomplish the. above objects. without increasing the frictional. wear on the. casing and in. which suchfrictional. wear as does, occur will be sub.- stantially uniformly distributed on all sides or the casing..

With. these. objects in view, my invention resides in the novel chain-'flight combination defscribed below and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. l is.v a vertical section through a conve-yor showing; my preferred type of. chain;

Fig., 2 is a fragmentary side; elevation of, the chain;

Fig.A 3l is a fragmentary front. elevation of the cham;

Fig. 4. a verticalv section through a conveyor ,that shown in Fig. 1.

3 showing a modified type of chain-flight combination;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front elevation of the chain shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical section of the top of a conveyor having a chain-flight combination similar to that shown in Fig. 1 but in which the chain is reversed;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary front elevation with portions broken away of the top of a conveyor having a further modified type of chain-flight combination Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the chain shown in Fig. 7

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary vertical section, with portions broken away, of a further modified chain and casing;

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary side elevation view of a chain-flight combination 'differing slightly from that sh-own in Fig. 9; and

Fig. 11 is a front elevation of the chain shown in Fig. 10.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the conveyor, as here illustrated, comprises a casing I having an upwardly vertical run 2, a downward run 3 and a horizontal run 4. A head sprocket 5 is mounted in the top of the casing and an idler sprocket at the end of the horizontal run. Near the top of the casing, a discharge chute 7 is provided having a downwardly sloping bottom 9 surrounding the chain. Insofar as the casing is concerned, a front elevation view of the top thereof in the vicinity of the discharge chute is the same as shown in Fig. '7. In fact, the discharge chute in each figure is alike irrespective of the type of chain with which it may be associated.

The chains shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are structurally alike and comprise comparatively short links 9, alternating with comparatively long links I I. The links 9 are illustrated as being formed of two at metal bars in juxtaposed relation but it is to be understood that a single bar instead of two bars may be employed. The flights I9 and the links Il, which are connected to the links 9 by pins I2, are integral and are here shown as formed of bent plates; the flight portions I9 being bent laterally at right angles to the link portions II. The links 9 are spaced vlongitudinally of the chain and form, with those portions of the links I I extending between the links 9, sprocket-tooth-receiving openings I3. Thus, the links 9 ride directly on the sprocket between the teeth while the links I I straddle the sprocket.

While the openings in the links 9 which receive the connecting pins I2 are adjacent the ends of the links 9, one of the pin-receiving openings in the links I I is adjacent the front or advance end of the link I I, while the other pin-receiving openings in the links I I are intermediate the flights II) and the advance ends of the links II. Thus, the nights I9 extend laterally outward from rearward extensions of the links I I. The effect of thus arranging the flights is to cause each one to tilt as soon as the forward end of the link II to which it is attached, passes the level of the axis of the head sprocket shaft I4.

The chain-flight combination per se, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, is identical with that described above in connection with Figs. 1, 2, and 3, but the arrangement of the chain with respect to the sprockets, as shown in Fig. 6, is reversed from In each case, the flights `III are disposed at right angles, or perpendicular,

to the direction in which the chain travels and the links are at one side of the chain-flight assembly rather than in the center. However, in Fig. 1, the major portions of the flights I9 extend inwardly from the chain as it passes around the head sprocket. while in Fig. 6, the flights extend outwardly from the chain as it passes around the sprockets.

By arranging the chain as disclosed in Fig. 1, two advantages are attained. First, when the flights tilt as shown at the top of Fig. 1, the material thereon slides off in a direction away from the chain, while with the arrangement shown in Fig. 6, the material slides towards the chain. Second, when material to be elevated is charged into the opening I5 and swept 01T the platform I5 by the movement of the flights, its fall into the bottom of the horizontal run 4 is less obstructed by the chain.

In Fig. 9, I have illustrated a fragmentary portion of a preferred type of casing in which the horizontal run of the chain is substantially eliminated and the casing may consist merely of vertically upward and downward runs with a 'i loop boot at the bottom. A charge chute II may be provided at the bottom of the loop from which material is discharged into the casing through an opening I8. In this view, the chain links are substantially the same as those shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 except in side elevation, the link-forming portions I9 of the flights 29 are substantially rectangular in shape instead of triangular, as shown at 2I in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

In Figs. 10 and 11, I have shown a slight modification of the chain shown in Fig. 9. Here, too, there are long links 3l and short links 32. The long links 3| carry the flights 33 and are the same as the link-forming portions I9 of the chain shown in Fig. 8. However, the flights, instead of being arranged in pairs, as in Figs. 3 and 9 so that each pair fills the casing, half flights are alternately disposed on opposite sides of the chain and fill only about one-half of the cross section of the casing.

In Figs. 4, 7 and 8, I have shown a modified form of chain-flight combination. Here, the chain comprises comparatively long links 22 and comparatively short links 2S, as in the other two forms of chains illustrated. The advance end of each long link is pivotally connected to the rear end of each short link by means of a pin 24 and the advance end of each short link is connected to the long links 22 by pins 25 at points intermediate the ends of the long links. Sleeves 25 surround the pins 24 and serve not only to maintain the side members of the links in laterallyspaced relation, but also function as rollers which cooperate with the sprocket teeth. In this embodiment, the flights 2l are welded to the rear ends of the long links 22 as shown at 28 and they extend not only laterally of the chain, but also around the outside of the chain as it runs around the sprockets. In other words, the chain, instead of running closely adjacent the side of the casing in the vertical runs thereof, as shown in Figs. 1, 6 and 9, runs in the middle of the casing. However, because the nights are secured to the rear ends of the long links and extend to the rear of the points where these links are articulated with the front ends of the shorter links, the flights begin to swing outwardly and away from the head sprocket and simultaneously tilt, as shown in Fig. 4, as soon as the advance ends of the long links to which they are attached rise above the level of the axis of the head sprocket.

In operation, the material to be elevated is charged into the conveyor through the opening I5 in Fig. 1, the chute I1 in Fig. 9, or the opening 29 in Fig. 4.

Where a loop boot as shown in Fig. 9, is employed, the charged material falls directly into the bottom of the casing and is carried upwardly by the ights on the chain. Where the casing is of the type shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the charged material is deposited on the platform I6 or 30 and is swept off by the iiights returning from the head of the conveyor into the bottom of the conveyor casing where it is carried forwardly and upwardly by the flights. It seems obvious that, where the lower portion of the casing is of the type shown in Fig. 4, the material could be charged through an opening in the side of the casing above the bottom run of the chain.

What I claim is:

A continuous flow conveyor comprising a casing having a vertically-extending section provided with a discharge opening in the side thereof; a single head sprocket only rotatably mounted in said casing above said opening; a continuous chain in said casing comprising comparatively long links disposed in closely spaced, end-to-end relaion, and comparatively short links in substantially spaced, end-to-end relation to receive the teeth of said sprocket therebetween; each of said long links comprising straight, longitudinally-extending portions, laterally enclosing the spaces between the ends of adjacent short links and overlying the major portion of the adjacent following short link; said long links having iiights integral with the rear ends thereof and extending laterally and horizontally therefrom when in the vertically-extending section of said casing; means pivotally connecting said long links adjacent the front ends thereof to the next adjacent short links adjacent the rear ends thereof; and means pivotally connecting said long links in a zone substantially midway between the ends thereof to the next following short links adjacent the front ends thereof; whereby, as said chain rides up on said head sprocket said iiights will be swung away from said sprocket and tilted to discharge the material carried thereby.

WILBUR G. HUDSON.

REFERENCES CITED Theffollowing references are of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,287,378 Hapman June 23, 1942 2,317,313 Thoma Apr. 20, 1943 2,357,796 Hapman Sept. 12. 1944 

